It’s true that some Oklahoma colleges and universities have hosted hot-button events like drag shows and lectures on race and gender issues. Some institutions also maintain diversity offices that employ full-time staff to oversee programs. But the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education’s 2023 report on DEI spending also includes programs for students with autism and veterans as well as staff who oversee compliance with Title IX,  the federal mandate that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires DEI practices, as well as some accreditation programs, according to the State Regents. Some DEI funding comes not from the state but federal or private sources. 

The Frontier used public records, state data and requests for information from schools, campus organization and other sources to fact-check claims about Oklahoma’s DEI spending from public officials and advocacy groups. 

Claim: The University of Oklahoma spent $1 million furnishing menstrual products in men’s bathrooms.
Source: A flyer distributed at the Oklahoma Capitol in December made this claim, crediting the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank, as the source of the information. The flier included a QR code linking to an anti-DEI website maintained by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.
Fact check: False 

The campus group OU Women’s Health Advocacy says it is the sole provider of free menstrual products at the University of Oklahoma. It maintains more than 80 menstrual stations on and off campus in women’s and gender-neutral restrooms. The group did previously place products in a few men’s restrooms in one building at the request of a professor, said Emily Carr, president of OU Women’s Health Advocacy.  

“We did this in acknowledgment that not all menstruators identify as women and, as an organization, we wanted to eradicate any potential barriers for obtaining menstrual products,” Carr said in an email. “However, due to a lack of use, those stations are no longer there.” 

The group is primarily funded by donations. Carr said the only money the group has received from OU amounts to less than $8,000 since 2019 from the Student Government Association.

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs did not respond to questions about whether it published or distributed the flier. 
-Brianna Bailey

Claim: The University of Oklahoma held identity-based graduation ceremonies in 2023
Source: An April 2023 article from the conservative Campus Reform website claims OU planned  “ceremonies segregated by ethnicity and gender identity.” 
Fact check: True but misleading 

OU held five different identity-based graduation celebrations in 2023, but a university spokesperson said in an email that it only holds one university-wide ceremony where degrees are officially conferred. According to the OU Multicultural Programs and Services website, different cultural groups based on race, gender identity or sexual orientation held celebrations before and after graduation. The goal of these events was to create a “more intimate celebration” of students’ successes. 
-Ari Fife

Claim: Some DEI staff at Oklahoma colleges and universities earn six-figure salaries. 
Source: “We need to stop sending six-figure salaries to DEI staff and more on preparing students to get that job and to have a successful career,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said during a press conference in December.
Fact check: True

At least a few DEI staff at Oklahoma universities make six-figure salaries. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education reported in 2023 that a diversity and inclusion program coordinator for the Price College of Business made $100,320 that year, partially funded with state money. A senior program administrator in charge of diversity equity and inclusion programs for the OU Athletics Department made $149,160 in 2023, but the salary wasn’t paid with state money. 

Stitt spokesman Meyer Siegfried shared meeting minutes showing Belinda Hyppolite, who OU hired as its vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion in 2019, makes $230,000 a year. Siegfried also said Oklahoma State University’s vice president of diversity makes more than $200,000 a year, but The Frontier couldn’t independently verify that figure. Oklahoma State University’s Division of Institutional Diversity touts a 111% increase in students of color earning a bachelor’s degree from the school since 2010, but its directory of DEI employees sends users to an empty page, as does a link to the school’s DEI Task Force. 
-Dylan Goforth

Claim: A student orientation program at the University of Oklahoma featured drag queens and “queer tours.” 
Source: Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman, said this during an interim study on DEI programs he hosted at the Capitol in October. “I saw the OU Sooner camp. I didn’t see any Bible study, which I would have been surprised to see that, but we see queer tours, drag shows and drag bingo for all these young kids coming onto campus. Is that really what we want to spend our money and time doing?” Standridge said, according to the OU Daily. “Shouldn’t we just talk to them about math and science and English and just let them study?” 
Fact check: True, but misleading

The OU Gender and Equality Center hosted a “Queer Tour,” in August, a guided tour of the OU campus meant to “connect students to resources, allies and queer-friendly spaces across campus.” The event was held during the University of Oklahoma’s “Camp Crimson” — a weeklong orientation camp for incoming college freshmen featuring numerous activities, games and campus tours. The Gender and Equality Center also hosted “Drag Bingo: Pride on the Prairie,” an event that featured performances by drag queens. But going on the tour, attending the drag performance or even attending Camp Crimson entirely were not mandatory for incoming freshmen. The events were only two among dozens of other non-academic activities that were also available for new college students during Camp Crimson and were not part of the university’s academic programs.
-Clifton Adcock

Claim: Oklahoma colleges spent $83 million on diversity programs. 
Source: This was the headline of a Feb. 15 article on the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs website. 
Fact check: True but misleading

Oklahoma public colleges and universities reported spending $83.4 million over the past decade on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and personnel, according to data The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education released in February 2023. But the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs headline and accompanying article lack critical information to put that figure into context. The article neglects to mention that $83.4 million represents less than one-third of 1% of Oklahoma’s total higher education spending over the past 10 years. Less than one-tenth of 1% of DEI spending came from state higher education funding. Some of the money came from federal programs, charitable donations and other private sources. The State Regents counted spending on support and engagement programs for students from a wide variety of underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds including those with low incomes and disabilities, students aging out of foster care and single parents as well as people of color and different gender identities.
-Brianna Bailey

Rating system: 
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details 
False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post From drag queen bingo to tampons in men’s rooms, we fact-checked Oklahoma’s DEI scare appeared first on The Frontier.

“The governor is calling for the Legislature to put Oklahoma on a path to zero, that includes assessing the budget, not increasing appropriations and cutting the size of government,” Cave said.  “He will not cut core services. You’ll remember that the House has voted to cut taxes on multiple occasions and the Senate continues to hold it up.”

Claim: Oklahoma now has record savings after emptying its reserves and facing billion-dollar budget deficits in past years. 
Stitt said: “We went from billion dollar budget deficits and zero money in savings and now we have the largest savings account in our state’s history” during an interview on Aug. 23 on KKAJ Texoma. 
Fact check: True but misleading

It’s true that Oklahoma had a record $1.3 billion in savings in June after higher-than- expected revenue from income taxes, which Stitt now wants to cut. But how much the state is able to keep in savings depends on tax revenue and swings in the state’s energy industry and overall economy. The state’s primary savings account, the Rainy Day Fund, was created in the wake of the oil bust in the 1980s and designed to conserve money from good years to spend in leaner times.

Oklahoma completely drained its Rainy Day Fund in 2003 and 2004 and again between 2010 and 2011 to plug budget holes after economic downturns. In 2016, the state faced a more than $1 billion deficit after steep declines in oil prices and years of tax cuts.

There are now some indications that Oklahoma’s economy is slowing again. The state’s total revenue collections were down nearly 9% in August from the same time a year ago, mostly due to declines in collections from oil and gas production taxes, according to the Oklahoma State Treasurer. 
-Brianna Bailey

Claim: Oklahoma is one of just 12 states that tax groceries. 
Stitt said: “We’re one of only 12 states that taxes groceries, and I’m trying to eliminate that because of the inflation and the harm that it’s causing everyday Americans, everyday Oklahomans. We’re trying to give them some relief at the grocery store as well,” during an Aug. 22 appearance on Fox Business.
Fact check: True

Oklahoma is now one of 12 states that have a state tax on groceries, after Virginia’s legislature passed a measure earlier this year eliminating the state sales tax on groceries. In addition to Oklahoma, Hawaii, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota, Utah and Idaho all charge a state sales tax on groceries, though many of those other states have already reduced the tax compared to other items. Oklahoma’s state sales tax rate on groceries is 4.5%.
-Clifton Adcock

Claim: Oklahoma’s median income has grown over the past decade, thanks to less government regulation. 
Stitt said: “More jobs, more competition, less government regulations. That’s good for our economy and your wallet,” in social media posts on Aug. 28. He also shared a graphic showing Oklahoma’s growth in median income over the past decade. 
Fact check: Mixed

Oklahoma’s median personal income grew from $46,161 to $60,096 between 2013 and 2023, according to figures from the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services. The figures Stitt cited are adjusted for inflation, an agency spokesperson said. Lots of factors can affect median household income, including demographic shifts in the population over time. The figures also don’t reflect disparities between households with the highest and the lowest incomes. Median household income only shows the middle of the range. 
-Brianna Bailey

Claim: Cutting income and grocery taxes won’t put state services at risk. 
Stitt said: “When you have a budget surplus, it just makes common sense. You either raise expenses, or you cut revenue, and so I’m not going to put our services at risk. But with surplus, we should give that back,” during an Aug. 22 appearance on Fox Business.
Fact check: False

Oklahoma’s budget failures and agency shortfalls in the late 2010s were preceded by years of deep tax cuts made worse by a slump in oil prices. Lawmakers eventually had to raise taxes to fund core services.  

Personal income taxes have made up about 30% of all state taxes collected so far this year, according to the Oklahoma Checkbook, a state budget transparency website. The estimated impact of cutting the state’s grocery sales tax would be more than $300 million per year. 

A tax cut permanently eliminates a source of recurring revenue for the state to fund things like education and social services. And raising taxes in Oklahoma is difficult, requiring a supermajority vote in the Legislature. 

The state’s current budget surplus has been helped by an influx of federal relief dollars throughout the pandemic. When those funds run out, the state’s financial picture should settle. Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said Wednesday that the tax cuts Stitt has called for would eliminate $4 billion dollars from the state budget, putting funding for things like schools and hospitals at risk. 
-Kayla Branch 

Claim: Eliminating the state tax on groceries will help lower income people because they spend a larger portion of their money on groceries. 
Stitt said: “People in the lower income bracket spend the high — most amount of their — percentage — of their income on groceries than people in the higher income bracket,” during the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s State of the State luncheon on Aug. 24. 
Fact check: True

The lowest-earning 20% of Oklahomans used 13.2% of their family income on state and local taxes, while the top 1% used only 6.2% on taxes, a 2018 analysis by the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found. Lower-income households spend less on food, but it makes up a larger portion of their budget than higher earners, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
-Ari Fife 

Rating system: 
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post We fact-checked Gov. Kevin Stitt on tax cuts appeared first on The Frontier.

Claim: A state vendor is responsible for the mismanagement of federal relief money intended to help families with educational expenses during the coronavirus pandemic. 
Walters said: “We had a vendor that signed a contract with the state that said ‘we will disperse this money and we assume all responsibility for setting money.’ And there was money that was missing. And we moved to hold that vendor accountable through a lawsuit.”
Fact check: False

As The Frontier and Oklahoma Watch reported in 2022, the vendor, Florida-based ClassWallet, signed a contract with the state to allow parents to buy school supplies with federal pandemic relief funds through the company’s digital platform. At the time, Walters was the CEO of the nonprofit Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, which oversaw the program. Emails show a representative from ClassWallet asked Walters whether parents should be restricted from buying certain items on ClassWallet’s platform. But Walters gave “blanket approval” for all purchases. An investigation by The Frontier and Oklahoma Watch found that much of the money was spent on non-educational items including video games, home appliances and Christmas trees. The state sued ClassWallet last year, but didn’t do much to advance the lawsuit after it was filed.  Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond dropped the lawsuit after taking office in January. A recently-released audit by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd found that Oklahoma failed to inform ClassWallet and state agencies the money passed through of monitoring, reporting and records retention requirements. That audit lays blame for mismanagement of the funds squarely at the feet of the state.
-Clifton Adcock

Claim: Questionable spending of federal relief money happened before Ryan Walters took office. 
Walters said: “This is all before I was in office. So once I came into office, again, internally auditing this vendor, okay, and what was going on there, and we found issues and that’s where the auditing process ramped up.”
Fact check: Mostly false

Oklahoma spent federal relief money on educational programs during 2020 and 2021 before Walters was elected as State Superintendent in November 2022. But Walters was involved in the oversight of those relief programs before being elected or appointed to a state office, reporting by The Frontier and Oklahoma Watch found. Walters helped secure the contract between the state and Class Wallet while he was executive director of Every Kid Counts Oklahoma. Walters also gave blanket approval to ClassWallet on what families could purchase through the program before he was appointed or elected to any state office. Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Walters as Secretary of Education in September 2020 and he continued his involvement with the programs. That’s when the bulk of the money was misspent. 
-Kayla Branch 

Claim: Allowing transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity resulted in an assault at Edmond Public Schools.
Walters said: “I don’t believe you allow boys in the girls bathroom unattended. I think it creates a very dangerous environment. We’ve seen an assault at Edmond Public Schools.”
Fact check: True but misleading

Months after Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a 2022 bill into law requiring kids in Oklahoma public schools to use the restrooms that “correspond to their birth sex,” a teenage transgender girl was accused of “severely” beating another student in the women’s bathroom at Edmond Memorial High School.

After the incident, Edmond Memorial Superintendent Angela Grunewald said in a video message to parents that the transgender student initiated the fight and had only been at the school for a short time. The student “enrolled as a female and presented themself as a female, and so had been accepted as a female,” Grunewald said. 

Students said the fight was over allegations of stolen clothing, according to a police report. A police officer noted that students “speculated that (the girl) was a male” but were unsure, according to the report. While many critics of inclusive restrooms have raised concerns that girls will be sexually assaulted by men posing as women, physical fights in school restrooms are somewhat common, studies show. A report from the National Center for Education Statistics showed that 8% of students reported having been in a physical fight with another student on school property in 2019.

A parent of the girl who said she was attacked filed a lawsuit in May, accusing Edmond Public Schools of knowingly allowing the transgender girl to use the girls restroom.

“Edmond Public Schools is confident that when the facts are presented, it will be determined that the district fully complied with the law and acted in a reasonable manner,” Edmond Public Schools Director of Communications Susan Parks-Schlepp said in an email.
-Dylan Goforth   

Claim: Ryan Walters has responded to more open records requests during his first six months as State Superintendent than his predecessor Joy Hofmeister did during her second term.
Walters said: “I’ve responded to more open records requests in the six months I’ve been there … than Joy Hofmeister did her entire second term.” 
Fact check: False

During the last three years of Hofmeister’s second term between 2020 and 2022, the Oklahoma State Department of Education received 1,215 open records requests, according to records provided by the agency. As of July 7, two of those requests were listed as still pending. Walters took office in January 2023. Data for the year up to July 7 shows the department has received 326 open records requests and of those, 99 records requests had yet to be filled.
-Clifton Adcock

Rating system: 
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details 
False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post We fact-checked Ryan Walters on misspent federal money and more claims appeared first on The Frontier.

Claim: A bill at the Oklahoma Legislature this past session would have enshrined protections in state law for contraceptives that induce abortion. 
Source: The anti-abortion group Free the States has made this claim on its website and on YouTube about Senate Bill 368. Some versions of the bill, which eventually failed, would have clarified that many forms of contraceptives are not abortion and are still legal in Oklahoma. Free the States claimed in a post on its website dated April 10 that “self-administered hormonal contraceptives that are approved by the FDA”…. “often induce abortions.”  
Fact check: Mostly false

SB 368 would have clarified that birth control, morning-after pills and long-acting reversible contraceptives, like IUDs, are still legal under state law.

Free the States founder T. Russell Hunter said in an email to The Frontier that his organization believes that pregnancy begins when sperm meets egg and that some forms of contraceptives are abortion because they work after fertilization. But federal regulation and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists define the start of pregnancy as when a fertilized egg later implants into the lining of a woman’s uterus.

Birth control pills and implants work by preventing a woman’s ovaries from releasing an egg each month and IUDs work by preventing an egg from being fertilized, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

The FDA released guidance in December stating that the morning-after pill Plan B prevents pregnancy by stopping or delaying the release of an egg. It doesn’t affect implantation and won’t affect an existing pregnancy, so the agency says it’s not abortion. 

-Ari Fife

Claim: Abortion is still legal in Oklahoma because current laws don’t criminalize women for seeking self-induced medication abortions. 
Source: Activists from the local anti-abortion groups Abolitionists Rising and Oklahomans United For Life have repeatedly made this claim on social media. 

“The abortion pill is the new state-sanctioned coat hanger,” activist John Michener said in a video posted on YouTube on March 1.
Fact check: Mixed

State officials have said Oklahoma statutes don’t criminalize women who seek abortions, but conflicting laws have caused some confusion.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down two state abortion bans in May, but there’s still a statute on the books dating from 1910 that outlaws the procedure. That statute criminalizes abortion providers, making it a felony for anyone to help a woman terminate a pregnancy except to save the life of the mother. Oklahoma enacted another law in 2022 that strengthened criminal penalties for medical providers. Women who seek abortions are exempt from criminal prosecution under that law.  

But another state law from 1978 prohibits self-induced abortions. A group of state lawmakers in October asked the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office to weigh in on whether women who self-induce abortions could be prosecuted for homicide under this law. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is expected to issue an opinion soon. 

-Brianna Bailey

Claim: The federal government is cutting health care funding for Oklahoma because the state will not promote an abortion hotline. 
Source: U.S. Sen. James Lankford said “…It is now past time for the Biden Administration to explain why they are cutting healthcare funding for women in my state because Oklahoma will not promote an abortion hotline,” in a tweet on June 12.
Fact check: Mostly true

The federal government suspended a $4.5-million grant to the Oklahoma State Department of Health for family planning services in late May. 

Federal rules require grant recipients to provide information about abortion, along with  counseling on prenatal and infant care and adoption. But Oklahoma law prohibits clinics from advising women on abortion, according to the state Health Department. 

Patients can opt out of receiving abortion information, which may include an abortion provider’s phone number or address, according to a federal memo. 

The Health Department said in a statement that it has worked for months with the federal government to “find an acceptable resolution that does not force OSDH to directly or indirectly violate state law.” 

The grant suspension is currently under a 30-day review, and state funding is being used to replace federal dollars, so no services have been discontinued. 

-Kayla Branch 

Claim: Oklahoma’s near-total ban on abortion is causing medical professionals to leave the state.
Source: “Oklahoma is one of 14 states w total abortion bans and one of 12 states w no exceptions for rape or incest,” Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, said on Twitter June 15. “As a result, we are losing medical professionals in droves, and everyone suffers when we don’t have adequate resources for healthcare.” 
Fact check: Mixed

It’s too soon to tell how Oklahoma’s abortion laws will affect the number of health care providers in the state, and data is limited. But states with near-total abortion bans, including Oklahoma, saw a 10.5% drop in applicants for obstetrics and gynecology residency positions between 2022 and 2023, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Nationally, OB-GYN residency applicants decreased by about 5% overall this year. A recent survey of 494 third- and fourth-year medical students applying for OB-GYN residencies and other specialties across 32 states found that 57.9% of students were unlikely or very unlikely to apply to programs in states with abortion restrictions. 

-Jillian Taylor

Rating system: 

True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details 
False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post We fact-checked claims about Oklahoma’s abortion ban and conflicting laws appeared first on The Frontier.

House Bill 2608 would have modified the existing sex offender registration law to require convicted sex offenders living within the boundaries of an Indian reservations register with tribal law enforcement in addition to the municipal police department or county sheriff’s office, something that federal law already requires. 

Stitt struck down the bill claiming it would have subjected some Oklahomans to tribal authorities that have no jurisdiction over them.

The Legislature could still act to override Stitt’s veto during the final weeks of its session. 

We reviewed state and federal law and spoke with local law enforcement and other sources to fact-check claims about the bill.

Claim: The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has run into problems with sex offenders who are tribal citizens living on Indian land who were not required or refused to register with the state. 
Source: Bill authors  Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, and Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, have made this claim in the media and when presenting the bill in the Legislature. 
“They already are telling them to do that now, they just are refusing to do so,” Bullard said at a committee hearing on the bill in April.
Fact check: Mostly false
The Department of Corrections requested the bill in case a sex offender refused to register with their local law enforcement office, said Kay Thompson, spokeswoman for the agency. 

“This piece of legislation would not have actually changed the current registration system,” Thompson told The Frontier. “It was just aimed at clarity, making sure everyone had the answers they needed.”

Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Roebuck told The Frontier that its sex offender unit had not run into any instances of sex offenders who are tribal members refusing to register.
-Dylan Goforth

Claim: There’s no gap in Oklahoma’s sex offender registry system. 
Source: “There is absolutely no gap in our registry system, all sex offenders must register with the state of Oklahoma,” Stitt said during a press briefing on May 5.
Fact check: Mostly true

It’s true that people convicted of certain sex crimes are already required to register with the state. 

Humphrey said the Department of Corrections brought him the example of a person who only registered with a tribe and not with the state.

“I had the people who deal with this every day telling me that they have a case where this has fallen through the cracks,” he said. 

Humphrey said there has been confusion in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt decision, and the bill was intended to provide clarity that a person who registers with a tribe must also still register with the state.
-Kayla Branch

Claim: The bill would have subjected non-tribal members to the jurisdiction and authority of the tribal courts.
Source: Stitt spokeswoman Carly Atchison said on Twitter “The bill would have subjected non-tribal members to the jurisdiction and authority of the tribal courts. That’s why the governor vetoed it.
Fact check: False

The bill contains no mention of tribal courts or making non-tribal citizens subject to those courts. The federal Adam Walsh Act already requires that convicted sex offenders register with tribal law enforcement if they live, work or attend school within a tribe’s jurisdiction. In addition, some federal laws subject non-tribal citizens to tribal court systems when they are accused of committing some domestic violence, sex and human trafficking crimes in Indian Country. But HB 2608 does not address those issues.

Atchison said she stands by her comments. 

“Tribal law enforcement operates as part of tribal justice systems, which, of course, include tribal courts. If an individual is required to register with a tribal law enforcement agency, the individual is, in this case, forcibly, submitting to the court system having jurisdiction over tribal law enforcement,” she said in response to The Frontier. “Oklahoma citizens should not be required to register with and/or effectively submit to the jurisdiction of law enforcement that has no jurisdiction over them.”
-Clifton Adcock

Rating system: 
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details 
False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post We fact-checked claims about gaps in Oklahoma’s sex offender registry appeared first on The Frontier.

Claim: Graphic novels containing sexual images including “Gender Queer”  by Maia Kobabe and “Flamer” by Mike Curato have been found in Oklahoma public schools.
Source: Walters made this claim in an April 3 letter to lawmakers. 
Fact check: True 

These books have been available in the past, but the districts Walters named have since removed the titles. Owasso Public Schools spokesman Jordan Korphage said “Flamer” was on the shelves of the district’s east high school campus library until recently. Last year, the district undertook a review of the book, but the reviewers found it not to be obscene and it remained on library shelves. It was removed again recently after Walters began calling it pornographic and is undergoing a second review, he said. 

Crystal Raymond, spokeswoman for Oklahoma City Public Schools, said  “Flamer” and “Gender Queer,” may have been on school library shelves in the past, but are no longer available. 

“Gender Queer” and “Flamer” were available in high school libraries in Tulsa Public Schools last year, though they were removed.
-Clifton Adcock 

Claim: The book “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationship, and Being a Human” by Erica Moen and Matthew Nolen, which features drawings of sex acts, is available at Oklahoma City Public Schools.  
Source: Ryan Walters made this claim on Twitter in February, citing information from Chaya Raichik, a right-wing internet personality who operates the online account Libs of TikTok.
Fact Check: Mixed

Walters claimed the book “Let’s Talk About It,” which includes drawings of sexual acts, was available to students. The tweet included a screenshot of an online catalog that showed the book was available at an Oklahoma City high school library. 

Oklahoma City Public Schools quickly responded with a statement saying the book was not available to students. The district did have a copy of the book that was included in a series of titles a national vendor had sent.

The district did an audit in August 2022 and removed the book, said Crystal Raymond, a spokesperson for Oklahoma City Public Schools. 

“It was not in the library,” Raymond said. “It was a clerical error and (the website) had not been updated to reflect it had been pulled.”
-Reese Gorman and Clifton Adcock 

Claim: Bixby, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Owasso and Stillwater schools have carried pornographic material. 
Source: In his letter to lawmakers, Walters provided a timeline consisting mostly of articles from local news media, a national partisan media outlet and an Oklahoma-based Republican think tank, about parent challenges to books in Oklahoma schools. Though some of the articles list the books being challenged and the reasons for the challenges, many do not even list the titles of the books that were the source of the controversy. A spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Department of Education told KFOR that pornography had been found in these school districts.
Fact check: Mixed

Walter’s letter cites a definition of “porngraphic” that the State Department of Education adopted in March at his urging. The rule describes pornographic materials in part as “depictions or descriptions of sexual conduct which are patently offensive as found by the average person applying contemporary community standards, considering the youngest age of students with access to the material.” Fact-checking claims of whether material is pornographic is complicated by the fact that such determinations are often based on subjective value judgements.

Walters listed four books he said have been found in Oklahoma public school libraries that he considered pornographic — “Flamer,” in Tulsa, Owasso and Bixby school libraries; “Gender Queer: A Memoir” in Tulsa school libraries; “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationship, and Being a Human” and “Lawn Boy,” by Jonathan Evison. Walters’ letter does not name the two schools where those last two books were allegedly found.

After Owasso Public Schools’ recent removal of  “Flamer,” one other book, the 2003 graphic novel “Blankets” by Craig Thompson, remains under review, a district spokesperson said.

Emma Garrett Nelson, a spokesperson for Tulsa Public Schools, said there are two copies of “Lawn Boy” in high school libraries that have never been checked out. The district does not currently have the other three books available, she said. Jessica Jernigan, spokeswoman for Bixby Public Schools, said none of the four books on Walters’ list are available to students.  “Flamer” had been ordered for one Bixby school library, but was never made available to students after library staff reviewed it, Jernigan said. Two other books not on Walters’ list were challenged by parents at the school — “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl,” by Jesse Andrews, and “Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay Asher, but a review committee and the school board found both of those books to be acceptable for high school students.

 Barry Fuxa, spokesman for Stillwater Public Schools, said none of the four books Walters cited as obscene are available on library shelves or through its digital catalog. The district has had one substantiated complaint about library materials over the past 16 years, and that book — “The Seventeen Guide to Sex and Your Body” — was removed last year, though it had been located in a middle school library’s adult section and had never been checked out, Fuxa said.

After removing  “Let’s Talk About It,” Oklahoma City Public Schools still has six copies of “Lawn Boy” available in high school libraries, though none of the copies have ever been checked out, a spokesperson for the district said. 

Walters’s letter also lists four “books in the marketplace to monitor” including “Bye Bye Binary” by Eric Geron; “Teos Tutu” by Maryann Jacob Macias, “Miss Rita, Mystery Reader” by Sam Donovan and Kristen Wixted and “Different Kinds of Fruit” by Kyle Lukoff. None of these books contain explicit sexual imagery or descriptions, but have gay, transgender or nonbinary protagonists.

The letter also contains the American Library Association’s entire 2023 Rainbow Book List that of 190 titles, described as a “diverse stories and identities representing LGBTQIA+ youth experience…”
-Clifton Adcock 

Rating system: 
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details 
False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post We fact-checked Ryan Walters’ claims about pornography in Oklahoma schools appeared first on The Frontier.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives voted 80-18 in favor of the bill on Feb. 28 after a two-hour debate. The Frontier fact-checked lawmakers’ remarks before the vote by reviewing the language of the bill, policy statements from major medical associations and available scientific studies. 

The bill now awaits a vote in the Senate.  

Editor’s note: Transgender youth seeking advice or counseling can speak with a counselor at The Trevor Project by calling 1-866-488-7386 or text messaging 678-678. The Trans Lifeline is also available by calling 877-565-8860.

Claim: House Bill 2177 won’t restrict access to gender-affirming services for adults. 
Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, one of the HB2177’s authors said: “In the state of Oklahoma this just puts a moratorium on, you can’t do it until you’re 18. Once you’re 18, you’re free to do it.” 
Fact Check: True but misleading

The bill would only ban gender-affirming care for minors, but would also ban insurers in Oklahoma from covering services for people of all ages. This would limit the number of people who are able to access gender-affirming care in the state. 
-Reese Gorman

Claim: Some nations have already taken steps to limit access to gender affirming care for minors. 
West said: “The countries at the forefront of these procedures, Sweden, Finland, the UK, France, Australia, and New Zealand have in recent years put roadblocks in place to prevent minors from receiving these procedures.” 
Fact check: Mostly True 

Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare updated its recommendations in 2022 to urge restraint for physicians providing hormone therapy for minors, citing uncertainty in the “effect and safety” of the treatments. “The risks outweigh the benefits at this point,” the board said, according to a translated statement.

Finland’s Council for Choices in Health Care recommended in 2020 that minors should only be treated with cross-sex hormones on a case-by-case basis after thorough evaluation. England has recently pledged to overhaul its transgender care for minors and has restricted gender-affirming care.

France’s National Academy of Medicine also issued new guidance in 2022, urging medical professionals to use more psychological treatment for minors considering transitioning. It appears there have been few major changes to the process in Australia, which requires consent from parents or an order from family court. While New Zealand has mostly supported gender-affirming care for youth, A position paper recently issued by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists specifically does not endorse such care for minors. The group also called for more research on the long-lasting effects of treatments. But none of those other countries have enacted a blanket government ban on gender-affirming care for minors like the one Oklahoma is considering. 
-Clifton Adcock

Claim: Drugs prescribed to help delay the onset of puberty in transgender youth as well as cross-sex hormones carry a wide variety of medical risks including brain cancer and infertility.
Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, one of HB 2177’s authors said: “This is about protecting children from the risk of puberty blockers such as sexual dysfunction, infertility, disrupting normal brain and bone development. It’s also about protecting children from the risks of cross-sex hormones such as heart attack, strokes, gallstones, liver dysfunction, brain cancer and type-2 diabetes.”  
Fact check: Mixed

Research on the long-term effects of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones is still in its infancy, but some studies have found the potential for harm. 

The American Pediatrics Association recommends that youth who identify as transgender have access to “comprehensive, gender-affirming, and developmentally appropriate health care.” But the organization also noted that the use of drugs used to delay puberty are not without risks and has called for more research. A 2020 study found lower bone mineral density in early adolescents taking puberty blockers and noted there is little data on the long-term effects. 

Cross-sex hormone treatment has been found to cause temporary or permanent infertility. 

A French study found that transgender women taking the synthetic hormone cyproterone acetate had an increased risk of brain tumors, but the drug isn’t currently approved in the United States. Some research has found evidence that transgender women who use estrogen have an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.  
-Brianna Bailey

Claim: Every major medical association in the United States supports gender-affirming care. 
Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City, said: “Does it surprise you that every single major doctor association and medical association in the United States, pediatric, psychiatric, family doctors, American Medical Association, all support the care you and others might claim causes adverse effects.”
Fact check: Mostly true

Most major U.S. medical associations have recognized the harmful effects of denying access to gender-affirming care and the medical necessity of providing that care to youth, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a national health policy and communication nonprofit.

In a 2021 statement, the American Medical Association held that restricting gender-affirming care “can have tragic consequences for transgender individuals.” Studies have shown that people who are transgender are at a higher risk for anxiety, depression and suicide and that gender-affirming care can help alleviate some of those struggles. 

The American Psychological Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Psychiatric Association and other groups have also released statements of support for gender-affirming care.  
-Kayla Branch

Claim: The medical community’s support of gender-affirming care is not based on actual research. 
Olsen said: “Statements by medical associations (such as the American Medical Association that are in support of gender-affirming care) are not tied in with actual studies.”
Fact check: False

A two-page statement the American Medical Association issued in March 2021 in response to a spate of anti-transgender bills cites eight scientific studies on outcomes of gender-affirming care. 
-Clifton Adcock

Claim: Oklahomans in the process of transitioning will have to de-transition if they cannot afford to pay for their care if HB 2177 becomes law.
Rep. Mauree Turner, D-Oklahoma City, said: “Folks are forced to de-transition if they … cannot afford (gender-affirming care) out of pocket to provide the healthcare they need to survive … (this bill is saying) they cannot stay in Oklahoma.”
Fact check: True

West agreed with Turner, D-OKC, that the bill would bar adults from receiving gender-affirming care if they could not pay for it out of pocket. West said his bill was “100 percent focused on protecting children,” but he also said he wanted to “(protect) state dollars from being used on this.”

The bill would also ban any facility that receives public funds from providing gender-affirming for minors and adults. Violations would result in a loss of public funding for one year, and facilities would be ineligible for further public funding until they ceased providing gender-affirming services. The bill, which would take effect immediately if signed into law, grants a six-month grace period for transgender Oklahomans to “taper off” hormone treatments or puberty blockers.
-Dylan Goforth

Rating system: 
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post We fact-checked the debate over an Oklahoma bill to ban gender-affirming care appeared first on The Frontier.

On the economy, Stitt said: “Since 2019, over 23,000 new jobs have been created and today, Oklahoma now has the third fastest-growing economy in the nation.”
Fact check: True but misleading

Oklahoma’s gross domestic product grew at a rate of 5.5% between the second and third quarter of 2022, according to a January report from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. The Sooner State had the third-fastest rate of economic growth behind Alaska at 8.8% and Texas at 8.5%.

But that report, based on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, only measures a moment in time. While the state’s increase between the second and third quarter of 2022 was the third-highest in the nation, the state’s gross domestic product declined by 1.6 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter of the year, ranking Oklahoma at 30th in the country in growth. Oklahoma was 43rd in the nation for gross domestic product growth from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022.

The Bureau of Labor statistics show the state has added roughly 46,000 jobs since January 2019, and, according to a document released by Stitt’s administration, economic development efforts by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce have created 22,904 jobs since January. 2019.
-Dylan Goforth

On proposed tax cuts, Stitt said: “I am proposing to eliminate Oklahoma’s state grocery tax and reduce our personal income tax rate to 3.99%.These cuts will save each family in Oklahoma hundreds of dollars each year.”
Fact check: True but misleading 

It’s true that cutting income tax rates and eliminating a state tax on groceries would save Oklahomans some money, but most people would see only a modest benefit from cutting the 4.5% state tax on groceries. And even across-the-board income tax cuts disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Oklahomans, according to an analysis from the left-leaning Oklahoma Policy Institute and Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.  The average two or three person household spent $416 on groceries a month in the 2021 fiscal year, according to data from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, paying an estimated $224 a year in state sales tax.

Stitt has also proposed a 0.76% across-the-board income tax cut, slashing the state’s top tax bracket to 3.99%. His executive budget proposal estimates the personal income tax cut would cost the state $260.9 million, but that’s only for the first half year. The full annual cost of the cut would likely be much higher. Oklahoma Tax Commission estimates for a smaller across-the-board tax cut of 0.25% that failed last year in the Legislature put the annual cost to the state at $226.5 million for the first full fiscal year. 
-Brianna Bailey

On school choice, Stitt said: “Other states like Iowa and Virginia and Florida and New Hampshire have already figured it out. Providing more options for students leads to better outcomes.”
Fact check: Mixed

Many states have expanded various school choice initiatives in recent years including charter schools and voucher programs. But only one of the states Stitt mentioned — New Hampshire — have major school voucher programs like the one Stitt supports already signed into law.

New Hampshire’s school voucher program is less than two years old, and eligibility is based on family income. No independent studies on student outcomes are yet available. The program has proved popular with parents, but has also run significantly over budget. And yet, the state’s Legislature is already eying an expansion.

State lawmakers in Virginia and Iowa are considering but have yet to approve proposed major school voucher expansions.

Florida has had multiple school voucher programs for years, and the state’s Legislature is now looking to vastly expand options for students with a proposed universal school choice bill. 

Studies on the impact of school vouchers on student performance have found small, but positive or negligible effects on student outcomes. 
-Clifton Adcock

Stitt said: “USA Rare Earth, the nation’s first critical mineral-to-magnet manufacturing facility, is right here in Oklahoma.”
Fact check: True but misleading 

It’s true that the company USA Rare Earth announced plans in June 2022 to open a manufacturing plant in Stillwater to convert rare earth minerals into magnets and other materials, the first facility of its kind in the United States. But the plant is still in the process of installing machinery and isn’t open yet. The facility is expected to begin some production this summer and become fully operational in 2024, said Dawn Jones, a spokeswoman for the city of Stillwater, which has approved a $7-million incentive deal with USA Rare Earth. 

“City management recently toured the facility and are impressed with progress and excited for the future,” Jones said in an email.

USA Rare Earth estimates the facility will eventually create more than 100 jobs in Stillwater. The company has one job opening in Stillwater posted on its website for an environmental and health safety specialist.
-Brianna Bailey

On criminal justice reform, Stitt said: “It’s why we also lead the nation in the lowest recidivism rate.”
Fact check: Mixed

Stitt’s office said it used data from the governor’s dashboard website to back up the claim that Oklahoma has the lowest recidivism rate in the country. 

The dashboard shows Oklahoma’s recidivism rate at 16.5% as of October 2022 and cites the Oklahoma Department of Corrections for its data. The dashboard also pulls data from individual states and rankings from World Population Review, a website that gathers demographic data, to claim that Oklahoma has the lowest recidivism rate in the nation. 

But Oklahoma’s recidivism rate changes depending on the source and how old the data is. 

An Oklahoma DOC spokesman said the total recidivism rate for fiscal year 2022 was higher at 17.6% but agreed Oklahoma still has the lowest rate in the country out of states that measure it in similar ways. 

The conservative justice reform group The Nolan Center for Justice said the rate was 19% in an April 2022 report. A local media report in July 2022 said the rate was closer to 20%. 

Organizations like the Pew Center On the States, the Oklahoma Policy Institute and the Virginia Department of Corrections have cited Oklahoma as having one of the lowest recidivism rates in the country, but the data is several years old. 

Research has suggested states that incarcerate more low-level offenders tend to have lower recidivism rates, since those individuals are less likely to reoffend and be reincarcerated. 
-Kayla Branch

Rating system: 
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details 
False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post We fact-checked Gov. Kevin Stitt’s State of the State address appeared first on The Frontier.

Stitt said: “Spending sprees in the good years left us vulnerable in the down years.”
Fact check: Mixed 

It’s true that state appropriations grew steadily during the mid-2000s thanks to an oil and gas boom that generated new revenue. But Stitt’s statement leaves out that tax cuts enacted under both Democratic and Republican governors also contributed to budget deficits in lean years that followed. Tax cuts that began under Democratic Gov. Brad Henry reduced state revenue by more than $1 billion a year by 2016, according to an analysis by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Oklahoma Policy Institute. 

Oklahoma now has about $3.8 billion in savings and reserve funds thanks in part to higher-than expected tax collections, but there are still signs the economy is slowing down, State Treasurer Randy McDaniel said in his January economic report. 

In his inauguration speech, Stitt promised a new round of tax cuts, saying “we believe in lower taxes and smaller government.”
-Brianna Bailey

Stitt said: “We gave teachers another pay raise, bringing our professional educators to top in the region in pay and benefits.”
Fact check: Mixed
Oklahoma gave teachers two pay raises in recent years — one in 2018 before Stitt took office that raised pay by $6,100, and another increase averaging $1,200 in 2019. The Oklahoma State Board of Education also approved a proposed $5,000 pay increase in 2022, but it still requires legislative approval. Average classroom teacher pay in Oklahoma is $54,762, putting it fourth among seven states in the region and 34th in the nation, according to the most recent data from the National Education Association, which has tracked teacher pay for decades and is considered the gold standard for comparison.

Oklahoma’s average starting teacher salary of $38,074 is also ranked fourth in the region and 39th in the nation. The “top” regional ranking Stitt referenced comes from a 2021 report from the state’s Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, which weighed other data, such as taxes and cost of living for its rankings to determine the “real buying power” of teacher salaries. Adding these variables into the formula put Oklahoma in first place for teacher salary regionally and 21st in the nation. The methodology LOFT used to arrive at those rankings was heavily criticized for attempting to manipulate the data and paint a rosier picture of the state’s situation.
-Clifton Adcock

Stitt said: “….new Census data released last week now ranks Oklahoma as top ten in states with highest net migration.”
Fact check: True

Oklahoma was ranked 10th in the nation for both the highest net migration and domestic migration between July 2021 and July 2022, according to data the U.S. Census Bureau released in December.

Nearly 27,000 people migrated to Oklahoma from other states, data showed. In total, 32,500 people migrated to Oklahoma, which followed behind states with higher migration like Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia. 
-Kayla Branch

Rating system: 
True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details 
False: A claim that has no basis in fact

The post We fact-checked Gov. Kevin Stitt’s inaugural address appeared first on The Frontier.

Claim: Gov. Kevin Stitt failed to stop foreign investors like China from buying up Oklahoma farmland.
Source: “Stitt failed to stop foreigners from buying up our precious farmland,” a man identified as “Dusty” in Minco says in an ad from the political action committee The Oklahoma Project. The ad also features an image of the Chinese flag and mentions “foreign investors like China.” 
Fact check: Mixed

It’s true that Oklahoma had one of the largest increases in foreign-held farm land in the nation in 2020, with 383,600 acres purchased, according to the latest report by the United State Department of Agriculture. About 4% of agricultural land in the state was held by foreign investors by the end of 2020, according to the report. Canada holds over half of the foreign-held land, followed by Italy.

Oklahoma already restricts foreign ownership of agricultural land, but there are some exceptions. A bill that would have clarified that non-U.S. citizens cannot own land in the state did not pass in the Oklahoma Legislature this year. Lawmakers have cited the state’s medical marijuana industry as a source of the increase in foreign-held land. Stitt signed a bill this year to put a moratorium on approving new commercial licenses that will last until 2024. 
-Kayla Branch 

Claim: Joy Hofmeister stood up to former Gov. Mary Fallin to get teachers a pay raise. 
Source: “Joy stood up to Mary Fallin to get our teachers the pay raise they deserve,” the political action committee Imagine This Oklahoma claims in this ad.
Fact check: Mostly false 

While Hofmeister supported a teacher pay raise years before the Oklahoma Legislature passed one, so did Fallin. Both Hofmeister and Fallin publicly advocated for teachers to get a raise before the Legislature passed a $6,100 per-year pay increase in 2018. In 2015, Hofmeister called for a $5,000 per-year pay raise. And when Fallin called for a $3,000 per-year increase in 2016, Hofmeister called the proposal “bold.” But the Legislature did not pass any raise that year, and a ballot measure to raise teacher pay also failed. Fallin again called for a teacher pay raise in 2017, but the Legislature failed to act. During her state-of-the-state address in 2018, Fallin threatened to veto any budget that did not include a pay raise for teachers. Staring down the barrel of the 2018 teacher walkout, the Legislature passed the $6,100 per-year raise, which Fallin signed into law.
-Clifton Adcock

Claim: Joy Hofmeister has aligned herself with Democratic President Joe Biden, pushing for tax increases on oil and gas.
Source: “They’ve pushed tax hikes at the pump, making it harder to fill your tank. More taxes on the production of oil and gas, putting 90,000 Oklahoma jobs at risk,” an ad opposing Hofmeister paid for by the Republican Governors Association claims. 
Fact check: Mixed

Hofmeister did support and praise a gross production tax increase on the energy industry in 2018 that state lawmakers passed to increase teacher pay. But as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Hofmeister could not vote for or enact any legislation to raise taxes. The tax increase was passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by a Republican governor.

“If Stitt attacks me for working with energy leaders back in 2018 to raise teacher pay, then he must also attack the Republican majority in the state legislature who were lockstep with the proposal,” Hofmeister said.
-Reese Gorman

Claim: Oklahoma’s last Democratic governor passed a tax cut for all Oklahomans. 
Source: “…we passed an income tax cut for all Oklahomans, that’s the kind of Governor Joy Hofmeister will be,” former Gov. Brad Henry says in an ad funded by Imagine This Oklahoma. 
Fact check: True but misleading

It’s true that Henry signed off on a series of tax cuts passed by the Legislature during his time in office, but the ad neglects to mention that the reductions mostly benefited the wealthy and contributed to budget gaps in the years to follow. 

The cuts included slashing the state’s top bracket, as well as raising the standard deduction for working families and reducing taxes for senior citizens.

Tax cuts that began under Henry’s watch reduced state revenue by more than $1 billion a year by 2016, according to an analysis by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Oklahoma Policy Institute. 

The tax cuts disproportionately benefited people with higher incomes, the analysis found.
-Brianna Bailey

Claim: Kevin Stitt appointees met behind closed doors and voted to send millions in tax dollars to a company he founded.
Source: “State appointees met behind closed doors and agreed to send millions to the company Stitt founded, now owned by his personal family trust,” an Oklahoma Project ad claims.
Fact check: True

Gateway First Bank — a company Stitt founded as Gateway Mortgage — received more than $2.5 million in taxpayer money through the state’s Quality Jobs incentive program between December 2019 and October 2022.

The company also got $876,000 from an incentive agreement with the state from 2016, before Stitt became governor. In January 2020, three members of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce’s Incentive Evaluation Committee, including two who were appointed by Stitt, discussed Gateway’s most recent application behind closed doors in executive session. A vote to approve the incentives was subsequently held in open session. Stitt, who stepped away from management of Gateway after he was elected in 2018 and transferred ownership to a family trust, denied knowledge of the application before it was presented to the board. The 10-year incentive deal requires Gateway to create 90 new qualifying jobs with an average annual salary of around $80,000 over three years.
-Clifton Adcock

Rating system: 

True: A claim that is backed up by factual evidence
Mostly true: A claim that is mostly true but also contains some inaccurate details 
Mixed: A claim that contains a combination of accurate and inaccurate or unproven information 
True but misleading: A claim that is factually true but omits critical details or context 
Mostly false: A claim that is mostly false but also contains some accurate details 
False: A claim that has no basis in fact 

The post As political ads flood the Oklahoma governor race, we checked the facts appeared first on The Frontier.